Great game. Really exciting, and huge props to Clemson.
I don't know how much they choked, as they were outplayed at the end, it's that simple. They weren't quite as great as everyone kept saying they were. Watson, the receivers, and really their entire offense, showed a lot of grit and poise on the 4th quarter, and especially that last drive, huge credit there.
As to the no-call on the pick play, let's be very clear here, this happens all the time in football The play was just off the line of scrimmage, not down field, and the wide out (Scott) never touched the safety (Brown) who was set to cover the slot/flanker (Renfro), he only touched his dedicated defender (Humphrey), and didn't initiate the contact other than running at Humphrey, in fact, his eyes were not on Humphrey, but back towards Watson. There is no possible way the officials are going to call this, especially that close to the line of scrimmage. Alabama should have been better prepared for it, and very quickly shifted the OLB and far side safety to cover a potential slant from Scott as soon as Watson started to roll out, this would have allowed Brown to move out quicker to cover the the outside, where Renfro was headed.
Even if the refs had called offensive PI, and Clemson hadn't scored on the next play, or just kicked a FG to send it to OT, they had the Tide going backwards at that point and likely would have won the game anyway.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/01/10/yes-clemson-ran-a-pick-play-to-beat-alabama-but-it-was-a-legal-play/?utm_term=.2da768724d2a
I don't know how much they choked, as they were outplayed at the end, it's that simple. They weren't quite as great as everyone kept saying they were. Watson, the receivers, and really their entire offense, showed a lot of grit and poise on the 4th quarter, and especially that last drive, huge credit there.
As to the no-call on the pick play, let's be very clear here, this happens all the time in football The play was just off the line of scrimmage, not down field, and the wide out (Scott) never touched the safety (Brown) who was set to cover the slot/flanker (Renfro), he only touched his dedicated defender (Humphrey), and didn't initiate the contact other than running at Humphrey, in fact, his eyes were not on Humphrey, but back towards Watson. There is no possible way the officials are going to call this, especially that close to the line of scrimmage. Alabama should have been better prepared for it, and very quickly shifted the OLB and far side safety to cover a potential slant from Scott as soon as Watson started to roll out, this would have allowed Brown to move out quicker to cover the the outside, where Renfro was headed.
Even if the refs had called offensive PI, and Clemson hadn't scored on the next play, or just kicked a FG to send it to OT, they had the Tide going backwards at that point and likely would have won the game anyway.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/01/10/yes-clemson-ran-a-pick-play-to-beat-alabama-but-it-was-a-legal-play/?utm_term=.2da768724d2a
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